Friday, September 19, 2008

trees and chaff


darkness. it seems so suffocating. impossible to penetrate with light, let alone destroy it. it is so rooted in everything...strangling and entwining so many things, even the beautiful are tainted.

even the good most often comes with the bad.
and it is unbreakable.
and goodness seems to be the one under water
frantically kicking, scrambling, gasping for breath
about to be engulfed and killed by evil.

and i believe this lie.

because i have put permanence on the temporary
and given weight to the opacity of now

"for the wicked are like chaff" will blow away
the deeds of darkness unsustainable
unremembered
in the white hot light of Goodness, of Truth, of Judgment and Grace

the righteous trees are planted by the River of Life
roots immersed in rich, cool water
true substance. fruitful.

and through this eternal lens i am reminded that while even the smallest light can extinguish and disrupt a world of dark,
the greatest darkness can never extinguish even a spark.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

3 days. 40 hours of driving. So worth it.

myself and three friends piled into a crv at 3 am friday morning. our destination: houston, tx. we started out strong, with a slight detour into duncan donuts to grab some coffee. after some inquisitive looks from the workers, and equipped with coffee and muffin in hand, we started out strong again.

things i learned on the way down.
1. there is absolutely nothing in oklahoma
2. i need to update my music collection. (i was the only one who brought music, and since i haven't bought anything in years and years we were forced to listen to music that was popular 10 years ago. however, the blast from the past kept the morale up).
3. gas is way cheaper in the middle of nowhere where stations are few and far between. gas is more expensive in the big cities where there are stations everywhere...does this seem backwards?
4. always road trip with cool people (which we did) our trip was full of silliness and depthful conversations.
5. beware of pranks your friends may pull on you when you are in the gas station bathroom. (they put a life size cardboard cut out of a nascar man right outside the door).
the wedding was in houston on saturday, so on friday we stopped in dallas for the night. my friend's friend's parents live there in an awesome house (we had our own showers in our rooms, and they fed us wonderful food). also, we were spoiled by being able to use their hot tub and pool after a long day of driving.
we awoke the next morning, and another friend met up with us in dallas to ride with us to houston

4 hours later
we quickly change into our dresses, and watch beautiful loren get married.
unfortunately, we got the giggle in the middle of the vows, but were able to keep it together until the end of the ceremony.
the wedding was beautiful and tasteful, and it was strange to see so many moodies there so far away from chicago.

we got back to dallas at 4 am on sunday (barely awake, near car accident with a drunk driver) and left at 10 am to get back to chicago.

things i learned on the way back
1. what the restaurant "sonic" is. i had never heard of it. am i the only one?
2. it is fun to listen to celtic music at sunset
3. you can reprank your friends with the same prank they did to you at the same gas station bathroom.
4. you cannot purchase life size card board cut outs of nascar drivers at gas stations. (i asked if we could buy it, unfortunately there will be an auction that we will miss...nascar man will go to the highest bidder...sad i won't be there).
5. i spent less than $100 to go to texas for the week-end with some of my favorite people in the world.